Turnpike To Add 11 S. Fla. Exits

Existing tollbooths on Florida`s Turnpike will be removed by 1988 in favor of a series of 25- and 35-cent toll stations with automated exact-change lanes placed at intervals along the roadway.

The $50-million effort, expected to be signed today by Transportation Secretary Paul N. Pappas, will occur even as 11 interchanges are added along a 44-mile stretch and the road is further widened to six lanes from Dade to Palm Beach counties. Some of that construction work is already under way or financed.

Included in the turnpike`s five-year plan are interchanges at Atlantic and Oakland Park boulevards and Griffin Road. An exit at Northwest 199th Street near the planned Dolphin stadium is also on the drawing board.

It will have the practical effect of lessening turnpike congestion by eliminating half of those four troublesome tollbooths, according to the Department of Transportation. But there will be four tollbooths straddling the turnpike, two that must be constructed, one between Commercial and Atlantic boulevards and one north of Boynton Beach.

There will be four new exits in Dade County, where a change-basket toll- collection system is already in effect on the Homestead Extension. The other toll booth to straddle the roadway will be south of the proposed Dolphin stadium.

Also, 11 new interchanges will be opened, attracting more traffic; most have been financed or were part of a revolving five-year Department of Transportation development plan that is frequently updated.

An interchange at Boynton Beach, already planned, and exits leading to the Sawgrass Expressway and Interstate 595, will be financed by the county or the state.

A new Sawgrass exit is to be built by 1987, Boynton Beach by 1988 and I-595 by 1990. The tollbooths would be changed by 1988. All the other ramps would open in 1992.

``This is not the solution to the traffic problem,`` said Sam Roddenberry, turnpike administrator. ``It`s just converting the turnpike to a more efficient system. The urbanization of this area, even though it`s incremental, is steady.``

That growth will be the key to the financial success of the move, since 45.3 percent of total daily turnpike toll receipts are collected in the 44-mile area where tollbooths will be changed, turnpike officials said.

For motorists driving southbound, the tolls will work like this: Just north of a new Boynton Beach interchange, drivers will hand their tickets to a toll collector at the new booths to straddle the roadway and pay their tolls, just as they do now at individual exits.

At Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton, southbound motorists can leave the highway without stopping at a toll booth or paying any tolls. At the Sawgrass Expressway, they will pay a Sawgrass Expressway toll, but not a turnpike toll. And to get off at Sample Road, Hillsboro Boulevard and Atlantic Boulevard, they will have to pay another quarter.

Northbound motorists from Golden Glades will pay 35 cents at a tollbooth that will straddle the turnpike and can leave the roadway free at Northwest 199th Street, Hollywood Boulevard, Griffin Road or Interstate 595. But at Sunrise Boulevard and Oakland Park Boulevard, they will have to pay another quarter to get off.

At Commercial Boulevard, there will be a 35-cent toll in the northbound exit.

Another 35-cent toll at the booths to straddle the turnpike will confront drivers on the straightaway in either direction between Commercial and Atlantic boulevards.

It will cost 20 cents less to go from Golden Glades to Palm Beach Gardens and 30 cents less to go from the Homestead Extension to Palm Beach Gardens. But it will cost 20 cents more to drive from Tamarac to Boca Raton or Pompano to Boca.

On the average, motorists will pay 3 1/2 percent more in tolls, but certain trips will cost substantially less. Operating costs will be lower, and the turnpike authority hopes to realize an increase in its revenue of roughly 4 percent.

Turnpike revenues in 1984 were $65 million and operating costs $8.8 million. The money goes to pay for bonds and interest on the bonds that financed the original turnpike construction and improvements.

The new design was first proposed in 1979, when eight of the planned new intersections were originally under study. But the change to a barrier toll road system was determined not to be financially feasible at that time because of cost.

Today, 25-year-old toll-collecting equipment is about to be replaced anyway, affording the state the opportunity to try a different system. The old equipment will be shipped to northern interchanges on the 321-mile highway.

An ongoing effort to widen Florida`s Turnpike from four lanes to six is under way from Golden Glades to the Homestead Extension and from Hollywood Boulevard to Sheridan Street; it should be finished during 1986. From Miramar to Hollywood and from State Road 84 to Sunrise Boulevard, the turnpike is already six lanes.

A contract to add lanes from Sunrise to Oakland Park Boulevard was awarded last month and work from Oakland Park to Commercial will be assigned in August.

By 1986, extra lanes from Commercial Boulevard to Pompano Beach will be under design; a six-lane turnpike is to stretch to Boca Raton by 1995.